Pizza, known as “the world’s saddest polar bear,” was confined to a Chinese shopping mall enclosure. He attracted hordes of people curious about animals but unaware that his situation was inhumane.
Chinese Youth Embrace New Attitudes Toward Pets and Wildlife
A growing awareness of animal protection—and city-dwellers' newfound love of dogs—is changing attitudes toward ivory and other wildlife products.
A truck packed full of several hundred dogs in dingy cages was rambling down the Beijing-Harbin Expressway in China late in the day on August 3, 2014. Its destination was Jilin, in northeastern China, one of the country’s major dog meat markets.
An advocate against killing dogs for meat spotted the truck and began live-blogging her location. Soon some 30 people were trailing the truck down the highway, and in short order local police flagged down the driver. Eating dog meat isn’t against the law, but it is illegal to transport them without health certifications—and this driver had paperwork (later found to be falsified according to the New York Times) for only 110 of the 400 dogs.
Still, the driver
